After death, it is traditional to place the corpse into a container. Containers into which bodies are placed take several different forms, and serve several different functions. A flexible, plastic, zipper-containing bag container known as a body bag, is often employed to transport a dead body from the place at which a person died, to a body holding or preparation area, such as a morgue or funeral home. Once at the funeral home or morgue, a body is often placed on a gurney for purposes of performing an autopsy, embalming the body and/or otherwise preparing the body for a viewing, interment or cremation. After the autopsy or embalming or other procedure is complete, the body is then usually placed in another container. In a large number of cases, the other container into which the body is placed is a “permanent” casket or coffin, that is suitable not only for holding the body but also for placement into the ground; or into a crypt or niche if the body is buried above ground.
Caskets and coffins have been used since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians. To be precise, a coffin and a casket, while both comprising funerary boxes, refer to different items in current understanding. A coffin usually refers to a six-sided funerary box whereas a casket refers to a four-sided funerary box. In this application, the terms casket and coffin will be used interchangeably to refer broadly to a funerary container intended to contain a deceased body.
Current caskets and coffins are made from a variety of different materials, such as wood, metal, and fiberboard. Typically, such permanent caskets have sufficient structural integrity and rigidity to maintain their intended shape, and not bend or collapse when the weight of a body is placed in the casket, when the casket is being transported.
Handles are usually provided on the side(s) and/or ends of a casket to facilitate the carrying of the casket by pall bearers. These handles are usually secured on the side of the casket by fasteners such as bolts, and the like. Since most permanent caskets are made from a relatively heavy gauge steel or wood material, most caskets have sufficient structural integrity so that the pall bearers can grab the handles, and lift the casket off the bier, and transport the casket by carrying it by its handles. Because of this structural rigidity, the casket will maintain its generally rectangular, cuboid, box-like shape during such a process, and will not collapse or bend or sag in a manner in which one might expect a less sturdy container to bend or fold when a heavy weight is placed therein, especially when a heavy, non-structurally rigid weight, such as a body is placed therein.
In addition to the permanent type caskets described above, there is growing use of non-permanent or “temporary” caskets, that are referred to as “cremation caskets” in tribute to their intended purpose. Cremation involves the placement of a body in an industrial furnace called a cremator, that includes a chamber, called a retort, in which the body is placed for burning. In the retort, the body is burned until the body is reduced to a “powder-like” ash material known as “cremains” that comprises mineral fragments. Since the body is reduced to a few pounds of cremains, there is no need for a permanent casket having sufficient structure and strength to maintain its integrity when buried in the ground for many centuries.
Actually, the use of a permanent type casket in a cremation setting is counter productive for at least two reasons. The first reason relates to costs. Because of their structural, integrity and decorative aspects, permanent caskets are usually quite expensive. At the time of this writing, the “retail” price of permanent caskets typically vary from between about $700.00 to $15,000.00. It is quite a waste of material and money to employ a $15,000.00 casket for only a four hour viewing, and an hour long church service and then to discard the casket within a retort, wherein the casket will be effectively destroyed and burned.
A second drawback with the use of a permanent casket in a cremation process relates to the increased difficult of burning a permanent casket when compared to the time and energy required to burn just a body. Even though a wood casket will burn quite well, the time required to burn a body in a wood casket to its appropriate “cremains” state often requires significantly more time, and hence, entails significantly greater fuel costs than a cremation where only a body is burned. A metal casket will likely require an even longer time than a wood casket to be burned completely, and require the expenditure of even a greater amount of fuel, such as natural gas.
Because of these drawbacks encountered with the use of “permanent caskets”, many bodies that are destined for cremation are contained within a “cremation casket”.
Currently, there are several types of cremation caskets that exist, and are being used. One factor that governs the particular type of casket used is the cost that the relatives of the deceased are willing or capable of paying for the service and cremation. A second factor that affects the type of cremation casket employed is whether the cremation casket is going to require decorative aspects. A third factor relates to body weight of the deceased as some cremation caskets must be reinforced in order to properly hold and contain bodies of a certain weight or size.
A fourth factor that may affect the choice of a cremation casket relates to transportation. Often, a person will die at a place far removed from the place at which the body is ultimately to be buried. Planes and trucks are employed to transport the body back “home” for burial. To ensure that the integrity of the container is maintained during flights and that the body does not fall out of its container, transportation authorities and carriers often set minimum standards of structural rigidity and integrity that must be met before the transportation carrier will accept the body for transport.
Probably the most simple and least expensive cremation casket comprises a casket-size corrugated box. The cremation casket box will typically be constructed similarly to a corrugated box that is employed to hold a case of copier paper. That is, the box will be a two-piece box, having a base portion that is generally rectangularly cuboid, an open top and may have a depth of, for example, 12 inches or so. A separable tray-shaped lid having an upper surface and downwardly extending side flanges will have a length and width slightly larger than the base portion of the box, so that the lid can fit over the box such that the downwardly extending flanges of the lid engage the upper portions of the outer side surfaces of the lower base of the box.
A variation of this cardboard box is what might be termed a “viewing cremation casket”. At its simplest, a viewing cremation casket is similar to the simple corrugated box disclosed above. However, the viewing cremation casket may include fabric members and pillows that are fixedly placed within the interior of the box, so that the interior of the cremation casket maintains an appearance similar to that one might expect from a traditional, permanent casket. Additionally, the viewing cremation box/casket may include a “riser level” that comprises a secondary bottom member. The height and angle of the secondary bottom can be adjusted relative to the primary bottom, in much the same way that the riser shelf of a permanent casket is adjustable relating to the bottom member of a traditional casket.
By changing the height and position of the riser shelf, the body can be angled upwardly in a rested position, so that a body resting within the “viewing cremation box” will have an appearance similar to that one might have if the body were placed in a traditional permanent casket.
The “viewing cremation casket” may be used alone, by placing some sort of decorative material or indicia on the exterior surface of the viewing box. Alternately, the viewing cremation casket may be placed within a “rental casket” also known as a re-useable casket. A rental casket is a hybrid-type casket, that generally includes an outer shell. The outer shell has the structural strength and integrity of a permanent casket, along with the decorative attributes of a permanent casket so that the rental casket has an external appearance of a permanent casket. However, the rental casket also has an undecorated interior that is designed to receive a removable liner, such as the viewing casket box.
Rental caskets are often employed when the family wishes to have a viewing or church service for a deceased member whose body is bound for cremation, before the actual cremation occurs. Rather than spending the several thousands of dollars for a full permanent casket, one can often use the rental casket, by placing a viewing box type cremation casket within the interior of the rental casket. Prior to cremation, the viewing cremation casket is removed from the rental casket, and transported to the crematorium, wherein the viewing type rental casket is inserted into the retort, and burned along with the body. The re-useable casket shell then be fitted with another viewing cremation casket and used for another person.
Cremation caskets can also be constructed similarly to either the viewing casket or the “plain box” cremation casket described above, but additionally include reinforcement. Often, a cheap wood, pressed board or plywood member, having dimensions that are sized to permit it to be placed on the bottom interior surface of the cremation box are employed for reinforcement. These reinforcing boards help to reinforce the bottom of the cremation casket, to give it additional strength and rigidity to make it better able to hold the weight of a body, without bending, folding or collapsing. Such reinforcing boards are especially useful and can be necessary in oversized or barriatric caskets that are employed for especially large and or heavy individuals.
Since the reinforcing board is usually disposed interiorly of the casket, and below the drapery and cloth of a viewing casket, it is usually not seen by anyone other than the funeral director. As the wood has no decorative purpose, a cheap wood or wood byproduct, such as Masonite or pressed board can be employed, as there is no need to incur the expense of employing a finer wood, such as a pine, oak, maple or the like.
A fourth type of cremation casket comprises a wooden cremation casket. A wooden cremation casket, is heavier and more durable than a cardboard container, and as such, is more expensive. However, in situations where durability is necessary, such as for bodies that are being transported by airplane or truck to a distant location, the added cost is well justified, as the additional durability is necessary. These “wood box” containers are different than permanent caskets, as they usually have no decorative features and may not have the air and moisture imperviousness of permanent caskets. Because they lack decorative attributes, these containers can be made reasonably inexpensively and cost-effectively, by using a cheaper burnable material, such as pressed board, Masonite or plywood, rather than a more expensive furniture-grade wood, such as is used in typical permanent caskets. The use of metal should be avoided, because of the greater difficulty encountered in burning metal vis-a-vis a more burnable material such as wood.
One of the difficulties encountered with such cremation caskets involves their transportation. The two primary methods for moving caskets from one place to another involve either carrying the casket in a manner similar to the manner in which pall bearers carry a traditional casket, or else moving the casket along a surface (such as a floor) by placing the casket on top of what is known as a “church cart”.
Although the wood board-type caskets, such as the airplane cremation casket discussed above probably have sufficient structural integrity and rigidity to be transported easily by carrying or church cart, the cardboard cremation caskets often lack sufficient structural integrity to withstand the stresses imposed by carrying or church carts without breakage.
Permanent caskets typically contain handles that are affixed to the side of the casket. These handles can be grabbed by a pall bearer so that the casket can be picked up and moved. This is not the case with cardboard caskets generally. Handles that are placed on the side of a cardboard casket may not be sufficiently durable serve as handles without malfunctioning to make them advisable to use.
One difficulty with the placement of a handle on the side of a cardboard box is that the cardboard material from which the box is made may not have enough structural integrity to withstand the forces that are imposed on the cardboard through the gripping of a handle and the lifting of a cremation casket, especially when that casket is filled with a heavy body. A handle coupled to the side of the cardboard casket has the potential to become dislodged from the casket due to the cardboard tearing, or else the handle become dislodged from the side of the casket, thus causing a potentially embarrassing accident with the deceased. Additionally, such caskets are often not well suited for use with church carts.
An example of a church cart is shown in FIG. 3. The church cart typically includes a scissor-like mechanism, wherein the scissor mechanism is hinged between a first end frame and a second end frame. The first and second end frames each include an upper frame and a lower frame. The lower frame includes wheels to enable the cart to roll along a surface. The upper frame usually includes four post members. In a typical funeral, the permanent casket is placed upon the four post members and is supported by the four post members. This support of the casket on the church cart enables the casket to be rolled along a surface, such as an aisle of a church.
Unfortunately, the top post members of a church cart present a small surface area to the underside of the casket, as the posts of a church cart may each have a diameter of less than one inch. Simple notions of pressure, and stresses imposed on a pounds per square inch basis suggest that a placement of a relatively heavy load within a relatively thin cardboard box upon four posts can result in a situation wherein the four upstanding posts of the church cart can pierce through the bottom of the cardboard cremation casket. As such, using church carts to transport cardboard box-like cremation caskets can be problematic because of the potential to pierce the underside of a cardboard box type cremation casket.
Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to provide a device that aides in the transport and carrying of a casket or casket-like container that can be used either with a traditional casket or casket-like container, but can also be used with casket or casket-like containers having a lower level of structural integrity, such as is found in a container made from cardboard.
In addition to the difficulties in moving cremation caskets, other difficulties arise that impact both cremation caskets and also, more traditional permanent caskets. One such difficulty arises in the placement of a casket (usually a traditional casket), within a mausoleum. Typically, mausoleums are constructed so that the width of an opening to a mausoleum crypt is only slightly wider than the width of a typical casket.
In most mausoleums, the crypts are disposed in a wall-like arrangement. The crypts are disposed side by side throughout the length of the wall. Additionally, the crypts are stacked in columns, wherein the first crypt is usually disposed at or slightly above floor level, and the upper most crypt is disposed adjacent to the ceiling. A typical mausoleum building may have several walls of this type, to hold hundreds or possibly thousands of crypts.
It is often difficult to efficiently insert a casket within a particular crypt, in a dignified manner. The insertion difficulty arises because of the relatively tight tolerances between the width of the casket and the width of the crypt. Often, the width of a crypt is insufficient to enable the handles of the side of the casket to be employed, since the handles on the side of the casket often pivot outwardly to facilitate gripping. When the handles are pivoted outwardly, the width of the casket, including the extended handles, is often wider than the width of the crypt.
Compounding the difficulty is the fact that many handles that are coupled to the side of the caskets are long, bar-like handles, such that the side of a casket may include a single “full length” handle that is supported by three hinges, and which is approximately five feet in length. As the handle is unitary, the handle pivots outwardly as a unit. Therefore, the entire handle must be placed in its rest position (not pivoted outwardly) in oder to move the head end of the casket into the crypt. This thereby renders the entire, full length handle useless for further supporting the carrying of the casket.
As such, it is therefore an object of another aspect of the present invention to provide a transporter for a casket, or a casket-like container that enables a casket to be maneuvered, and transported easily, so that the casket can have the ability to be more easily insertable into narrow crypts or crypt-like spaces.